The Seattle Post-Intelligencer starts the week with a nice article on graphic novels for kids that turns the usual cliches on their heads. Far from repeating the hoary cliche that “comics aren’t just for kids anymore,” writer Cecelia Goodnow notes that comics moved up the age scale quite a while ago and are just now coming back down, with manga leading the way.
And in contrast to the usual “comics get reluctant kids to read,” doctoral student Drego Little points out that better readers like comics as well, although he adds, “you have to choose more carefully for them. The proficient readers in my class, I give them stuff that’s engaging and more literary.”
But he has a caveat:
“If parents are going to get this stuff as a way to get kids reading,” he said, “manga would not be my first choice. There’s just not enough text in them. Any kid over fourth grade, they need more text.”
Actually, I find that reading the graphics of manga can be quite challenging. Often I’ll stop at a less wordy passage to try to figure out what’s going on, really see how the art relates to the action, or just savor the visuals. It’s a different problem than interpreting the written word, but I still think it’s a good exercise.
Goodnow gives the last word to Eric Reynolds of Fantagraphics:
“Manga has brought kids back to comics.”
